At its Unpacked event in San Francisco today, Samsung unveiled the 10th anniversary Galaxy S flagship smartphone models. The Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e represent a new design language moving into the next decade of smartphone designs, which undoubtably will include 5G and foldable phones.

Amazon and eero announced on February 11th, 2019, that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire eero. eero’s home mesh WiFi systems set up in minutes and blanket every room of a customer’s home in high-performing, reliable WiFi.

With the dawn of 5G networks right around the corner, 2019 promises to be an exciting year full of announcements, deployments, and official launches. But how will WiFi coexist alongside 5G? More importantly, how will the carrier WiFi market pan out in 2019 once 5G is introduced? Clients, please log in to view the full content.

Skyworth Group has concluded the acquisition of Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron)’s set-top box manufacturing business (Altech UEC South Africa). Altron announced in Q3 2018 that it was close to selling off the business, with the Competition Commission giving the regulatory nod of approval in Q1 2019.

Capacitive fingerprint sensors in consumer devices peaked in unit shipments in 2018, while the price heavily declined by over 40% vs 2017. The overall price for a packaged fingerprint sensor in 2018 was $1.2 ($1.1 for capacitive fingerprint sensors, and $5.8 for in-display). For mass market mobile phone applications, prices were under $1 by the end of the year.

Inside Secure, a mobile, banking, IoT, and SoC security specialist, will acquire video and media security specialist Verimatrix. The all-cash transaction – valued at $143 million and backed by One Equity Partners - is expected to close in Q1 2019.

Every decade or so, a new technology or device format is unveiled that immediately disrupts the market. Apple was the instigator in 2007, and the iPhone upended the mobile phone industry. More than a decade later, the smartphone market is now showing signs of stagnation. The latest designs from various companies are starting to look more alike, which is making brand differentiation difficult.

In the era of ubiquitous connectivity, people will not only consume vast amounts of data but stay continuously connected across more devices and platforms. But what will become of WiFi as an access technology? What role will WiFi play when 5G promises near-instant connectivity across several applications? Will WiFi disappear into the mobile ether? Clients, please log in to view the full content.

Nokia has sold the brunt its digital video business – comprising the firm’s CDN, Cloud DVR, and experience personalization solutions – to Canadian private equity firm Volaris Group. Volaris is likely to reconstitute the video assets under the Velocix brand. Nokia, for its part, will retain its system integration business, but will continue to market and sell Velocix’s solutions – becoming, in effect, a Velocix channel partner. The value of the transaction is not known.

Verizon recently announced the rollout of its 5G wireless home broadband service in the US, 5G Home, with orders opening September 13th, 2018 and launch beginning October 1st in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.
The company is touting typical speeds of approximately 300 Mbps, peaking at 1 Gigabit, with no data caps. The service is priced at $50/month for existing Verizon subscribers, and $70/month for non-subscribers, and comes with three months of YouTube TV free. Subscribers also receive their choice of a free Google Chromecast Ultra or Apple TV 4K.

Cisco’s Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) segment, acquired by private equity firm Permira, has been redubbed Synamedia. Although the transaction is not final – we expect it to conclude during the second half of calendar-year 2018 – Synamedia has enumerated four solution areas that will define the firm’s focus: anti-piracy services; RDK, Android TV, and one-way set-top box middleware solutions; cloud DVR solutions; low-latency OTT and ABR streaming solutions.

Nagra has divested its SmarDTV business. The firm announced during the first quarter of 2018 that it was looking for a buyer; in Neotion – the French conditional access vendor – Nagra has found one. Neotion will acquire SmarDTV’s conditional access module (CAM) and pay TV set-top box assets, while Nagra will retain SmarDTV’s plants in the UK and France, as well as SmarDTV’s entire patent portfolio. The USD 20m transaction hinges upon Nagra’s licensing the SmarDTV patents to Neotion, and to Neotion’s newly created SmarDTV Global affiliate.

On June 28, Foxconn was joined by senior US government officials, including President Trump, in breaking ground officially at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Mount Pleasant Wisconsin.
IHS Markit was invited to attend, and a summary of the event is presented in the attached.

Wyplay has become the latest set-top middleware and UX vendor to embrace the Android TV platform, and market a custom launcher for Android TV’s Operator Tier. Debuted in Q1 2017, and formalized in the second and third quarters of the same year, Operator Tier affords Android TV adoptees considerably more latitude in designing a device’s home-screen, app carousel, icons, and content placement.

There is currently much excitement about fixed wireless access (FWA) using millimeter wave spectrum (mmW), particularly in North America. (By strict definition, millimeter wave implies frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz; however, in the present FWA context the industry also refers to frequencies in the 24 and 28 GHz range as mmW). Millimeter wave offers significant throughput performance with a channel size of up to 900 MHz but has coverage challenges. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

Subsequent to a lengthy review of its Service Provider video business, Cisco is divesting its Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) segment.
Private equity firm Permira will acquire Cisco’s video security, video experience, and video processing assets. While neither the name of the new entity, nor the value of transaction has been disclosed, it is known that Abraham Peled – NDS’ former CEO and Chairman – will reclaim his role as Chairman of the new company. Subject to regulatory approval, Cisco anticipates that the sale will complete by the end of October 2018, or within Q1 of Cisco’s 2019 financial year.